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Don’t be afraid of repentance. We all make mistakes. In day to day living we all slip and commit sin, whether privately or publicly, whether intentionally or accidentally. No one is exempt from this. However, Allah says in the Qur’an, “Say: O ‘Ibaadi (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allaah, verily, Allaah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” [al-Zumar 39:53]. 

Allah, by His Mercy, has made the possibilities of forgiveness abundant and He has ordered us to seek His forgiveness through repentance. He says in the Qur’an, “O you who believe! Turn to Allaah with sincere repentance!” [al-Tahreem 66:8]. Without His Mercy and Forgiveness, human beings would not be able to live meaningful lives, striving to please Him.

This injunction to seek forgiveness is on all kinds of people in this ummah. They are: those who are foremost in good deeds, those who follow a middle course, and those who wrong their own selves by doing haraam things (cf. Faatir 35:32).

As is clear from the above, we should never ever become self righteous when seeking Allah’s forgiveness, as even the righteous people are told to seek forgiveness. The best of creation, Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said “O people, seek repentance from Allah. Verily, I seek repentance from Him a hundred times a day” [Muslim]*. 

So how does one go about repenting to Allah? The scholars say that there are three condition for repentance which ,when fulfilled, there is the hope that [the one seeking forgiveness] his repentance will be accepted, by Allaah’s leave. The three conditions are:

I) You should give up the sin
II) You should regret having done it
III) You should resolve never to go back to it

But we should not be daunted. in a hadith Qudsi*, Allah has said: “O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.” 

What more can we hope for, other than that? And Allah make us amongst those who repent sincerely, and who are forgiven. Ameen.
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- I am not a scholar. My knowledge is extremely limited so my ability to speak on religious topics is miniscule and my authority in these matters in non existent.

- Therefore, most of the information in this article was taken directly from the website islamqa.com, especially these two articles: http://islamqa.com/en/ref/46683 and http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/135707 . This website is a collection of articles and Fatwas by recognized scholars.

- the italicized portion are taken word-for-word from the above website.
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